Help for a Multiplayer newbie

[Mozz]

Hi, I just need some basic questions answered if possible so I don't keep getting "kicked" out of games. I'm sorry if they seem simple but I'm really new to online gaming.

 

I understand that "laming" is attacking players who have their weapons down or chat bubble up. Is there any other reason you shouldn't attack someone in a FFA game?

 

Why was there a big battle looking fight with sabres going everywhere, but everyone seemed to be lit up with a blue background that was involved?

 

How do I challenge or accept a challenge for a duel?

 

Does that green shield work automatically or should i be pressing a button?

 

I practice offline, but need to know the basic game ettiquite for playing against humans. AI never complain that you weren't supposed to attack them.

Is there anything else a newbie should know? Sorry if these have been answered, but I did a good search around and couldn't find answers to these.

 

Thanks for any help you can give, and remember you were all noobs once!

 

Mozz

[UDM]

1. Laming is just being a lamer, ruining the fun for others. Of course, the definition of 'fun' is purely subjective. Some may consider 'fun' to be getting the highest number of kills. Others' 'fun' is to join a server and talk about everyday life. Anyhow, what is 'lame' to you normally applies to everyone else, so its more of a 'do what you see fit, but bear the consequences'. Hope this helps

 

2. That means 2 players have challenged each other to a private duel, meaning other players cannot interfere. It's their way of saying "Let's see who can pwn the other first"

 

3. Default button is k

 

4. Green shield works automatically. It's to show you (and your opponent) that the last saber attack depleted a certain amount of your shield points

[amiregistered]

Does that green shield work automatically or should i be pressing a button?

Mozz

 

what about force protect

[90SK]

The "green shield" is either the bubble when you start (which goes away when you move), or force protect, a force power.

 

Laming is generally killing someone with their chat bubble up, and in some cases someone with their saber down. I think the second rule is stupid, but people will kick you for doing it.

 

You can bind a key as saber challenge by looking in the controls section, under "interaction" I think, or something like that. Just look for it: you'll find it eventually.

 

When everyone seems "lit up", it's because they're in individual duels with other players. Attacking them doesn't do anything, though it's very annoying. I'd advise you assign a saber challenge key (I like "K"), and then when you find a battle like the aforementioned, you can challenge the most conveniently placed bystander thus elevating yourself to near-normal status (assuming your conduct isn't ridiculous, though I'd assume it isn't since you're not drowning us in slang and misspelling, for which I thank you).

 

 

 

Now, there's a much easier way to avoid all this trouble: don't play FFA. Try CTF, or Siege. Duel is fine if you're good, but since you're new I doubt it would be of much merit. There are some freakishly experienced players that hang around duel servers. Almost every FFA server you're going to find will be filled with a bunch of disrespectful little force whores who don't understand the concept of "fair gaming" and not psycho rule-driven whore spamming, and so on.

 

In any case, I hope that helps.

[Kurgan]

Hi, I just need some basic questions answered if possible so I don't keep getting "kicked" out of games. I'm sorry if they seem simple but I'm really new to online gaming.

 

Never fear, we're here to help.

 

I understand that "laming" is attacking players who have their weapons down or chat bubble up. Is there any other reason you shouldn't attack someone in a FFA game?

 

These people make up their own rules and it is impossible to keep track of everything. Some say you should never attack somebody if they are chatting, or waiting in line for a duel, or "waiting for a friend" or "not ready." Others say you should attack anyone you have not formally "challenged" first, and others insist on only being challenged by officially recognized clans. Others say that only certain force powers may be used, others say none may be used. Some say only lightsabers may be used, but not certain styles or moves. Others say that saber off = peace (don't attack). Some say a certain "signal" must be given before a battle (what that is differs, some say a "bow" like hit crouch, others say you have to literally use the bow animation, some say just swing your weapon or say "ready"). Some say that only one on one battles are allowed.

 

I just avoid such servers since it is confusing and annoying. "Free For All" implies grab a weapon or two and start blasting. None of these rules need apply. Whoever has the most points at the end wins, period.

 

If you're looking for a server without that nonesense, please feel free to visit the Meatgrinder, we specialize in playing the game as it was meant to be played, not all these goofy convoluted rules and honor codes which just detract from the experience in our opinion, and limit the potential that can be had from the unique challenge of "using everything in any combination." See the link in my sig. We're cool there and we won't kick you just for winning or using what tactics you want (short of actual cheating or something).

 

 

Why was there a big battle looking fight with sabres going everywhere, but everyone seemed to be lit up with a blue background that was involved?

 

The blue tint means they were engaged in a "private duel." You can't harm these folks. They used the saber challenge (a feature of FFA that the server decides on) to fight each other. Once one person wins the duel, the blue goes away and you can hurt them normally.

 

The thing is, several server side mods (that only the server runs so you never need to install anything to "see" it when you join) add a feature to allow multiple duels going at once. Originally Raven only intended ONE private saber challenge at a time on a server, since this was a BONUS FEATURE and not meant to be the game itself (DUEL gametype was reserved for one on one fights, or POWERDUEL for 2 vs 1 fights). Some people think that dueling is the ONLY ACCEPTABLE way to fight and get very angry if you try to attack them when you're not in an official duel with them. Thus you will find servers like that with lots of people dueling at once and others just standing around waiting for "their turn" rather than just roaming and fighting, as the developers originally intended (and how 99% of all FPS games are played online).

 

How do I challenge or accept a challenge for a duel?

 

In setup there is a key that you have to define, that will accept or give a challenge. You can only give a challenge when both you and your opponent have a saber out. Some mods (or rules) indicate you have to have your saber OFF (blade selected, but turned off) in order for it to work, and as well for your opponent. You have to be relatively close to them for it to work and neither of you can already be in a duel. If it doesn't work, then either the other person is not interested or the server doesn't allow it. If it works, then you will wave your hand (in the "taunt come here" gesture) and the text will appear on their screen. A lot of noobs don't know how to accept a duel, but it's right there in their controls setup. If they hit the right button in time, they'll do the gesture as well and you'll both suddenly be encased in some glowy stuff (some mods remove this) to indicate you're in a duel, and there's some text and it says "begin." To others you'll appear as glowing blue until your duel is over (one of you dies, or you both get too far apart so that the duel is "severed").

 

Does that green shield work automatically or should i be pressing a button?

 

This green "bubble" (I assume you mean) normally only appears when you first spawn into the game (and after you respawn after dying). It only appears for a split second to a second (depending on how laggy you are with the server), it's respawn invulnerability. It's to prevent a person from being killed right when they respawn. It actually goes away quicker if you attack. However some mods have messed with this built in feature so that a person can turn on a green bubble ANY TIME THEY FEEL LIKE IT, basically meaning they have turned on "god mode" and are invincible. Admins often use this to cheat. They roam around and mess with people because they can't be harmed. Typically they only give the ability to their friends who become "sub admins" and mess with non admins who can't use it. It's a command they type in, that duplicates the effect of the respawn bubble.

 

In the normal game this isn't a feature you can "use" it's just for people who just spawned in a second ago or something and then quickly goes away so they can enter the game.

 

Edit: If you were talking instead about some other green thing (like a little green "splash" glow when you hit somebody, that just indicates you did shield damage to them. If you mean their entire body is encased in a green glow (but not a solid green bubble around them), that is just Force Protect, a power you can toggle on and off as a Light Side Jedi if you have that power assigned. See your key setup. But I'm thinking you meant the actual green bubble, which indicates (temporary, unless they are using a server mod that lets the admin and his buddies cheat) invincibility.

 

I practice offline, but need to know the basic game ettiquite for playing against humans. AI never complain that you weren't supposed to attack them.

 

There is no agreed upon ettiquette. In my opinion, whining is a bad thing, as is excessive foul language or insulting your opponent (I'm not saying playful trash talking among friends is forbidden, I mean deliberately being a slimey jerk to piss people off). That's my definition of "unsportsmanlike conduct" and "being a sore loser/winner."

 

"Cheating" is also not good. I mean like deliberately killing your teammates or suiciding over and over to screw up the score or flooding the server to try to ruin the game somehow, or opening up your base to enemies on purpose to screw your team over. That's the kind of thing I consider bad. Another thing is grabbing the flag and then going and hiding with it, to disrupt the flow of the game (that is, with no intention of scoring). Don't do that, it's stupid and annoying.

 

But beyond that, it's pretty much anything goes. Some admins don't like it when you kill them or beat their friends in the game and will abuse and ban you for it. Others just like to mess with you. All you can do is try to guess what the people on that server want from you and follow it or leave.

 

Our server we don't care about that petty crap and will let you do what you want. If you're beating everyone, then tough, we'll just have to try to develop new tactics to stop you. If we're playing a team game and you're going off by yourself, your team will be pissed, but it's not like you'll be banned (though your own team might votekick you for making them lose, if we decided to have that feature enabled that day).

 

Is there anything else a newbie should know? Sorry if these have been answered, but I did a good search around and couldn't find answers to these.

 

Don't take the insults other people give you in game personally. These honor fanatics and rulebook thumpers have their own brand of megalomania or control-fetish going on in many cases, so just ignore them. Yeah they'll get mad and kick you, but there's a few servers that are still dedicated to just good old fashioned fun as the developers intended their games to be. Find a server like that and support it. You'll enjoy yourself.

 

MY personal ettiquette is that you respect others and give them a good game. Try your darndest to beat them, make it a challenge. If it's clear they suck, give them a little encouragement, maybe a tip or two, so they don't get too discouraged. Maybe mix things up and make it a challenge for yourself. Make your kills stylish or something (you don't have to, but still). Say "gg" (good game) at the end. If you get beaten, don't bitch and moan and make excuses why they didn't really beat you, just suck it up and congratulate 'em and say you'll get 'em next time, etc.

 

If somebody beats you and it feels really cheap, just try to learn how they did it and how you can beat it. There's almost always a way, even if it means being cheap yourself.

 

Thanks for any help you can give, and remember you were all noobs once!

 

Mozz

 

Yep. Anyway, you're welcome on the Meatgrinder anytime. We'd be glad to have you. And we could help show you the ropes. We've got some decent people that frequent, and it should be fun. We play all sorts of game modes too, not just FFA or duel. You'll get to learn the GAME being with us, not just one narrow subset of it like you might on some honor-bound server, and you won't have to worry about an angry admin turning you into a bunny or "slapping you" across the map while invincible or something like that.

[TK-8252]

Oh. My. God. Kurgan.

 

Why don't you just ask LucasArts if you can get a job for them writing all their games' manuals?

[Kurgan]

That would be awesome. I assume you're being ironic/sarcastic here, because you know I've basically written the MP manual for both Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy with my strategy pages already, heh.

 

Frankly, their manuals have been lacking lately, at least where Multiplayer is concerned.

 

However, they did manage to actually tell people to refrain from using excessive profanity in their games in at least one of the manuals (I don't recall if it was Battlefront or Jedi Academy, but it was definately in there, believe it or not).